Teenager Park cards 68, leads in first round
Lightning suspended play, allowing only the morning players to finish the round.
SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. (AP) — In a U.S. Women’s Open dominated by talk of teenagers, one of them wound up atop the leader board.
And hardly anyone noticed.
As 17-year-old Michelle Wie continued her free fall and 12-year-old Alexis Thompson played carefree until it was too dark to continue, LPGA Tour rookie Angela Park, 18, birdied her first three holes and hung on for a 3-under 68, leaving her in the lead in the first round for the second straight major.
No rain touched the turf at Pine Needles, but play was suspended for 31⁄2 hours because of lightning in the area, allowing only the morning batch of 78 players to finish the round.
Thompson, the youngest qualifier in U.S. Women’s Open history, three-putted the 18th green for a bogey that put her at 3 over par after nine holes, a respectable start considering she played the tougher back nine first. Wie went off early, and fell off the map quickly. She hit only four fairways, matched her highest score in a Women’s Open with an 82, and offered an assessment that was hard to grasp.
“It’s just a very fine line between shooting 69 and shooting what I shot today,” said Wie, who stretched her streak to 21 rounds without breaking par.
She wasn’t the only one who struggled.
Webb’s score her highest
Karrie Webb, a seven-time major champion who won the U.S. Women’s Open the last time it was played at Pine Needles in 2001, failed to make a birdie and walked off with an 83, her highest score on the LPGA Tour.
“I have no excuses. I’m not that kind of player,” Webb said. “Do you think I had any idea I’d shoot 83? It was a terrible round, one of the worst days of my career.”
Three players were at 2 under at various points on Pine Needles — In-Bee Park (16 holes), Jee Young Lee (12) and Karine Icher (10).
Defending champion Annika Sorenstam was at even par through 13 holes.
Park also was tied for the lead at the LPGA Championship after one round, eventually finishing fifth.
“Maybe this week will be different,” said Park, who was born in Brazil to South Korean parents and grew up in California.
She played in the morning, when Pine Needles was soft from overnight rain and the wind hadn’t begun to rustle the pines, and she quickly fired off three straight birdies. Park was at 4 under most of the round until hitting a tee shot into the trees on the 17th, pitching out and missing a 25-foot par putt.
Wie self-destructs
Park played before hardly any gallery, most of them watching Wie self-destruct again. Time and again, Wie posed on a shot, only to have the club slide through her hands as she realized the shot was off its mark.
“I know I’m a better player than this,” the Hawaii teenager said.
Par became a premium, but it was hardly a dull day. Lorena Ochoa, the No. 1 player seeking her first major, holed out for eagle from 195 yards in a bunker, only to have luck turn against her when a shot over the green bounced through two grandstands, across the road and out-of-bounds, leading to double bogey.
She was at even-par 71, along with Brittany Lincicome.
Laura Davies holed out for eagle on the eighth hole, but was 1 over through 14.
Ochoa and Morgan Pressel were full of smiles when they walked off Pine Needles at even par.
“I’m doing good so far,” Ochoa said. “Playing in a U.S. Open, it’s always good to be around par.”
She got there in the most peculiar fashion.
Ochoa was hitting fairways and greens, always a good recipe at this tournament, when she found a fairway bunker on the 14th and had 195 yards to the hole. She figured her caddie wanted her to hit 7-wood, but Ochoa wanted a 5-wood.
“I had a really good feeling,” she said. “I said, ‘Just trust me, I like this one.’ And I hit it perfect.”